Swatow Lane Food court, Penang

I was utterly impressed when I got here. I remember that the chendol stall was at the corner coffee shop but it has since moved into the food court opposite the shop. Now located in this sparkling new food court, it reminds me a bit of the ones you find in Singapore. Clean, organized and good parking.
First stop was to order the chendol and ice kacang. There was quite a queue but service was pretty quick and efficient. Presentation of the traditional Malaysian dessert is never a good sight but the taste is always the killer.

Check out the kidney beans. Big arse ones. They were not too stingy on the gula melaka and the chendol was absolutely mouth watering especially in our weather. 

The ice kacang is nothing to shout about. The shaven ice is bit too coarse. I do not like canned corn in my ice kacang.


Next stop was to order curry noodles. The stall is located just in front of the chendol stall. Check out the photo below. The presentation - thumbs up! It makes the customer feel good when the cook go through the pains of arranging their food in a nicer way. Aesthetically, this was really good.

As I said earlier, the bowl of curry noodles came and boy! I was impressed. Bonus points for effort to make the dish look good.

Immediately I took a whiff of the curry noodles. Nothing much...again I smelled it again....nothing much still. This is not a good sign for curry noodles. The aroma of the curry spices were not there. First sip of the curry and again this confirmed that the spices were not there and it was not as tantalizing as I expected it to be. Although the prawns were good, everything else to the bowl of noodles was mediocre. The cockels (Si Ham) were so small, one blink and you'll miss it. Yet again, I have been deceived by the good looks.

The food court of Swatow Lane is indeed a nice place if you want variety and cleanliness. I like the way the whole place is organized and the way the tables are arranged. Not too cramp unlike the food courts in KL where they will try to fit 20 tables in a 5'x5' area.

Chendol = 2 Points
Ice Kacang = 1 Point
Curry Noodles = 1 Point